Wednesday, 12 December 2012

One of the great frustrations for me of the genuine euroscpetic movement is the often lack of a coherent or successful strategy to exit. The consequences of which is self-evident, by virtue that in a couple of weeks time will be the 40 year anniversary of our entry, yet still we seem to be no closer or nearer to leaving. The Green party for example have an MP despite the party polling around a quarter of Ukip's national vote in 2010 who are still waiting for their first. A very long wait it seems for Ukip to be as well.

One of the problems is a lack of acknowledgment in some circles that we have to play the cards we're dealt not what we wish them to be. Simply repealing the ECA 1972 and hoping we can easily undo all that has passed overnight is not feasible. The ECA is not some kind of 'giant red reset button' that will magically takes us to a post EU nirvana. That is not how international agreements are made.

It's precisely because the EU rules and governs a great deal that unpicking a lot of it will take time and patience - and it must be done with the minimum of disruption especially in times of economic turmoil. To save the Boiling Frog you can't simply scoop him out of the very hot water and stick him in the freezer - the shock would kill him - you have to turn the heat off and allow him to cool down within the gradually cooling water.

If we are to rip up one set of terms and conditions (by immediately repealing the ECA) then a new set of terms and conditions must already in be place to cover things like; mobile phone roaming, telecommunications, mail to the EU, passport control, banking transactions, landing slots for aircraft, trade and so on. These things will inevitably take time to agree to. Taking trade as an example, to export to the single market as a non-EU country, a Designated Port of Entry is needed (DPE) to tunnel into the EU's custom union's walls - an example is here regarding fishing:

"List of ports in EU Member States where landings and transhipment operations of fishery products are allowed and port services accessible for third-country fishing vessels, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008"

Thus without negotiating DPEs for the UK we cannot export to the EU by law outside the single market...all exports from the UK to the EU would literally stop overnight without agreements in place. Not ideal in the middle of difficult economic times.

Such facts will be used time and time again by Europhiles to devastating effect against the 'repeal the ECA' brigade in any future referendum, a referendum which is looking increasingly likely. This argument will galvanise the 'status quo' effect that affects all referendums plus being a potent dose of 'cling onto nurse' scaremongering - ensuring that any referendum will be lost by those that seek EU exit. "Exit will be a disaster" will be the cry, and by advocating repealing the ECA 1972 they will be right, and they will exploit such an argument to the full.

What we need, therefore, is a strategy to negate such views. Within Article 50 - the exit clause of the Lisbon Treaty - we thankfully have one.

Invoking Article 50 is an international legal requirement under the Vienna Convention of Treaties 1969. We are signatories to this act and if we are to remain part of the responsible international community then we have no choice but to invoke Lisbon's exit clause as per Vienna's requirements. Article 50 also allows us under Lisbon to negotiate a new 'relationship' - a new contract - which means when we leave (after 2 years), the exit will be relatively seamless, with minimum disruption.

Article 50 also has the bonus of calling Cameron's bluff. Cameron has no intention of wanting to exit the EU and will rig any referendum accordingly (my emphasis):

"I don’t want an ‘in or out’ referendum because I don’t think out is in Britain’s interests.”

Thus we have pontification from Cameron that he wants to remain in the EU but wishes to negotiate a new relationship (my emphasis):

The Government is reportedly drawing up plans for an in-or-out referendum on EU membership. David Cameron is said to support a looser relationship with the EU but he is ready to give Britons the possibility of leaving entirely to ensure a referendum has credibility.

Such protestations are pure fantasy. That the EU, who have a full blown Eurozone crisis on their hands, are going to listen to Cameron who wants to bring to the table negotiations over bringing back 'maternity leave legislation' to the UK" is someone whose favourite song must be Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. And as Roger Helmer notes, via Witterings from Witney:

Cameron’s idea that he can just show up in the Berlaymont
Building and jettison half of the acquis communautaire is so much pie in the sky.”

Cameron knows this of course, which is why he is in favour of proposing it. It's a ruse to try to bring on board (deceive) euroscpetics pretending he can bring back powers, while assuring those in Europe by implication that he doesn't mean it - precisely because they know he can't deliver. It's deception on Cameron's part of the highest order.

But...there is a way of delivering 'a looser relationship' with the EU and remaining part of the single market, and it's one that backs Cameron into a corner - Article 50. We can remove ourselves from EU jurisdiction but by remaining a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) - the common market - it can fulfil Cameron's so-called wishes. Richard North calls it the strategy of "common market and out".

...allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal Market without being members of the EU

The EEA is often seen as a stepping stone to full EU membership, but conversely what is a stepping stone 'in' can also be a stepping stone 'out'. By invoking Article 50 at a stroke the Tories can claim to be exiting the EU, while also arguing that trade won't be affected because we remain members of the single market. It's a winning strategy by facilitating the inevitable slow exit from the EU while negating many of the objections to do so.

It's a danger that Cameron clearly recognises...which is why he is attempting to nip this idea in the bud before it gains traction:

That Cameron is opposed is a very good reason why it has potential as a winning strategy.

The loss of influence is a silly argument to field, because it's really a Westminster Bubble view and argument. It's rather like the counsel for the prosecution in the Lady Chatterley case asking whether the jury would be happy with their servants reading such material.

Most people can't see any matters of consequence which have been steered by the UK having a seat at the top table. We've been dragged into supporting the Euro, The CAP and the CFP remain unreformed. It's clear the Eurozone is going for fuller integration and will vote as a block and form an inner circle.

The talk of fax government immediately invites comparisons with Norway and Switzerland. By the time you get round to attempting to distinguish between their political status and their state, well it's hard to communicate a complex argument to people who are rolling about on the floor laughing.

The Article 50 route, helps deal with the 3 million jobs mantra.

UKIP certainly aren't helping with the repeal the ECA and Up Yours Delors approach.

I am proud to state that I am for repealing the 1972 act and declaring immediate withdrawal...

...The government could create a national sized version of the "London Residuary Body", which was the system used by Margaret Thatcher when she wanted to abolish the GLC... ('Tis a pity that she didn't realise that such bodies... sham metropolitan domains... with seedy mayors, were the EEC's preferred system of local cuckolding and would immediately be restored.)

Anyway, whichever (fantasy) approach is taken, nothing will be permanent unless the levers of power have somehow been fantastically dropped into the people's hands (or even seized!), and the government can no longer usurp the people's sovereignty again.

I would agree that sometimes actually quite a lot of the time Richard is sound... But I will never accept that alienating your fellow traveller (even if you don't like him) is pointless and potentially destructive.

So before he poisons you completely TBF, do a bit of your own thinking.

"I would agree that sometimes actually quite a lot of the time Richard is sound... But I will never accept that alienating your fellow traveller (even if you don't like him) is pointless and potentially destructive."

My apology TBF... That should of course read more like the complete opposite... I would agree that sometimes, actually quite a lot of the time Richard is sound... But I will never accept that alienating your fellow traveller (even if you don't like him) is ANYTHING OTHER THAN pointless and potentially destructive.

@right_writes I too would want immediate withdrawal but it's not possible, besides campaigning on that in any election or referendum frightens people off.

I do agree with your point about ensuring it can never happen again. As for the 'fantasy' approach, this one is being taken seriously higher up in the Tory government - I don't think it is entirely Richard's idea.

Sorry not sure if your 'fellow traveller comment was aimed at me or Mr Witterings...

The 'fellow traveller' comment was directed at neither you nor WfW... it was directed at Richard North...

I have support for some of his ideas, I just don't like the way that he puts people down (particularly fellow travellers)... i.e. People that would like government to be smaller, fairer and more representative, rather than one that continuously mounts byzantine projects that are unwanted, unpaid for, uncalled for and with frequently with some sort of unrealistic goal.

Among those people are some that actually have a chance of making a difference, but he chooses (for his own personal reasons) to direct unwarranted criticism and poison his co-respondents minds... I have watched this happen with some of the regular commenters on his site and it is not pretty, and it is not necessary... Funnily enough one of them is WfW, who has changed his whole outlook in recent months..

The other aspect of your reply is a bit odd, I never stated that people should campaign for an immediate exit from the EU. I just criticised those that say that it is impossible... and I offered a possible scenario (precedent) in the London Residuary Body, which performed the very thing that Richard North says is impossible. If he really thinks that, he has got absolutely no good reason to criticise (say) Daniel Hannan (the Judas Goat) just because he has decided that he wants to be part of a campaign called "the Pledge", which is a campaign for withdrawal from the EU, which suddenly seems to have morphed into a campaign to start negotiations with the EU on leaving... I can't tell the difference between this scenario and Richard's.

Neither has he any reason to criticise UKIP and its leaders who he has a seething hatred for. My comment is born out of the frustration caused to me trying to balance the thoughts of Chairman Richard, with the thoughts of Chairman Farage.

Well I decided a few weeks back after another protracted online argument, to detach myself from his online organ (along with WfW as it is a word for word exercise in sycophancy) and also Autonomous Mind and that Zsamuely woman.

I don't want to get sycophantic myself TBF, but I thought that your blog was a little more "rounded" and you don't seem to have been persuaded that Farage (even worse... Bloom) are devil worshippers or something.

The choice on the one hand of the EU's Article 50 with a two year negotiated withdrawal; or on the other, immediate withdrawal via a repeal of the ECA, is false.

It would be perfectly possible to announce our intention to leave, via our own parliament, then to engage in some negotiation with the EU, and others including bilateral agreements, together with an internal (UK) revamp of EU laws then repeal the ECA.

In any case Directives are already enacted in UK legislation. We would be able to re-cast these in our own time. We would only need to deal with the Regulations that are not already part of our own laws.

I believe Article 50 is a trap: it leaves control of the conditions under which we leave up to the rest of the EU (we cannot participate). These conditions may be structured to be so onerous we cannot meet them, then where would we be?

@budgie "The choice on the one hand of the EU's Article 50 with a two year negotiated withdrawal; or on the other, immediate withdrawal via a repeal of the ECA, is false."

I would agree, because there isn't a choice. We have to invoke Article 50 because it is the law - we have no choice under international law. What is also false is the premises that exit can be done with anything other than A50. It can't.

A50 is not a trap. It is a method of handing in our notice to quit. The EU does not control the means of exit - any agreement has to be approved and ratified by parties. If we don't like the terms then we don't agree (and vice versa for EU) and after two years we're out by default.

The only trap is the one being laid for Cameron...which is the point of the post. It is a method of backing him into a corner - you want to have powers back then here's how you do it. It's calling his bluff and is one that is gaining traction within his party. With this we might actually be getting somewhere.

@right_writes Thank you for your comment and your kind words about my blog.

I won't respond to your observations regarding WfW, because as you will know, he is more than capable of answering for himself, which he may well do.

Rest assure that I'm no sycophant. My position is and always has been "I'm loyal to the cause (EU exit) but not to a party / person in political terms". It was a position I made clear when I joined UKIP and stood as candidate. Any criticism I make of UKIP is based on experience, and I do so in the spirit of constructive criticism - I hope that is how it is taken. In the current political climate I think and believe it should be and could be doing so much better. But should UKIP manage to get an MP elected I'll be celebrating like many others.

Richard obviously has criticisms to make from when he was a member (I think 'seething hatred' is a little wide of the mark) many of which are ones I concur with from my own experience.

I have seen the good of Farage and the less good of Farage, and there is a case that can be made that he does more damage than good to the Eurosceptic cause. Sometimes I can understand the 'alienating fellow travellers' bit, if the chap in question is a hindrance rather than a benefit (think Captain Oates). But no, I don't think Farage is a 'devil worshiper' ;-)

What I like about the above strategy (apart from that invoking A50 is a legal requirement) is that it is backing the duplicitous Tory party (particularly Cameron) into a corner. They are increasingly being maneuvered (inevitably) into a position where they can no longer hold the "in Europe, rule by it". Once we demolish that comprehensively within the party, we will start getting somewhere. (and I understand more information will come to light over the weekend that holes Cameron's 'Norway's fax' argument below the waterline).

I like the strategy for the potential of its simple effectiveness. We may at last and hopefully be starting the process of exit - and that's all I care about.

That is debatable. Firstly the Vienna "treaty of treaties" (VCLT) is inapplicable between states (in this case the UK) and international organisations (here the EU).

Even if that could be argued with, the VCLT itself does not prohibit a signatory from terminating a treaty. The language that I have read in the VCLT (on the FCO website) deals with procedures and consequences of termination and appears to take for granted a state's right to choose to continue with or reject a treaty.

We are still regarded in international law as a sovereign nation (example: we have our parliament, continuous over centuries; and a seat at the UN). I am convinced the UK is perfectly at liberty to repeal any treaty we have signed, provided we follow protocol like giving notice. I believe you have been misled.

Annex: from the VCLT:"ARTICLE 54Termination of or withdrawal from a treaty under its provisions or by consent of the partiesThe termination of a treaty or the withdrawal of a party may take place :(a) in conformity with the provisions of the treaty; or(b) at any time by consent of all the parties after consultation with the other contracting States."(My bold; And Article 54 is not a prohibitory provision).

@Budgie We are a sovereign nation that passed by consent of its parliament the Lisbon Treaty thus all of its provisions. It can't simply then say we are going to ignore certain articles as we see fit 'cos we feel like it.

It's rather like handing your notice in at work and deciding to just walk out rather than comply with the contract's T's & C's you signed up to and working out your notice.

The word 'may' relates to an 'either, or' option. In other words exit 'may apply by either option a) or b). Should option a) not exist then option b) applies as an example. So it's by an exit clause if there is one or by implication if not.

Thus we are legally required to invoke A50 in a treaty we fully signed up to.

No, the VCLT does not state that an exit clause must be used if it exists; it is offered as an option only. The VCLT does not state that the 'consent' option is only available "if an exit clause does not exist" - that is a rider of your own invention.

Neither can I understand the religion around invoking TEU Article 50. It is an option but not the best, in my view.

I have already countered your "argument about A50 not being a trap" in my first comment as follows: "I believe Article 50 is a trap: it leaves control of the conditions under which we leave up to the rest of the EU (we cannot participate). These conditions may be structured to be so onerous we cannot meet them, then where would we be?". If you trust the EU to play fair over Article 50, you are a bolder man than me.

My greatest disappointment is that some eurosceptics have latched on to Article 50 and won't let go. Much worse, they denigrate eurosceptics like myself who favour the ECA repeal route as little better than traitors to the cause. This is ugly, unhelpful and divisive.

Btw, I do appreciate your hard work, integrity and sense in maintaining and writing TBF. I just happen to disagree with you about this issue.

@budgie "I believe Article 50 is a trap: it leaves control of the conditions under which we leave up to the rest of the EU (we cannot participate). These conditions may be structured to be so onerous we cannot meet them, then where would we be?"

To which I replied It is a method of handing in our notice to quit. The EU does not control the means of exit - any agreement has to be approved and ratified by parties. If we don't like the terms then we don't agree (and vice versa for EU) and after two years we're out by default.

The EU cannot force anything on us. Article 50 is a notice that we're leaving, it's not a request.

When I get back home I will re-read my copy of the Lisbon treaty Article 50. My memory is that the conditions are set by the rest of the EU, not us. Then at the end of the process we will be offered terms which we must accept or reject. These terms may be so bad that we cannot afford to accept them. We would then be trapped in the EU.

About The Boiling Frog

A blog about the anti-democratic and pernicious European Union with particular emphasis on its impact here in the UK. Also I'll cover British politics and occasionally chuck some whimsical nonsense in as well.

EU quotes

"[There's no way Britain could accept that] the most vital economic forces of this country should be handed over to an authority that is utterly undemocratic and is responsible to nobody"(British Prime Minister Clement Attlee in response to the Schuman Plan 1950)

"We should frankly recognise this surrender of sovereignty and its purpose."(Edward Heath, Hansard, 17 November 1966)

“America would welcome it if Britain should apply for full membership in the [EEC], explicitly recognising that the Rome treaty was not merely a static document but a process leading towards political unification.”(George Ball Under-Secretary of State for JFK 1961)

"The single market was the theme of the Eighties; the single currency was the theme of the Nineties; we must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political unity."(Romano Prodi, 13 April 1999)

"We perform the duties of freemen; we must have the privileges of freemen ..."(Chartists 1836)

"The [Lisbon Treaty] is indeed a tidying -up exercise, it sweeps the rest of our sovereignty under the Brussels carpet."(Lord Pearson)"The Government’s guiding principle was...to swallow the lot and swallow it now."(Sir Con O’Neill, the British diplomat who led the UK’s negotiations for EEC membership under Heath)

"I look forward to the day when the Westminster Parliament is just a council chamber in Europe."(Kenneth Clarke, Conservative Chancellor in International Currency Review Vol 23 No 4 1996)"The EU is the old Soviet Union dressed in Western clothes"(President Gorbachev)

"Europe's power is easy to miss. Like an 'invisible hand', it operates through the shell of traditional political structures. The British House of Commons, British law courts, and British civil servants are still here, but they have all become agents of the European Union implementing European law. This is no accident."(Mark Leonard co-founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, the first pan-European think tank)

“I have lived in your future ….and it doesn’t work”(Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky on the EU)

"Determined to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe"(Treaty of Rome 1957)

"This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union..."(Maastricht Treaty 1992)

"Now we've signed it - we had better read it"(Douglas Hurd, former Foreign Secretary on the Maastricht Treaty)"The supremacy of Community Law when in conflict with national law is the logical consequence of the federal concept of the Community"(H P Ipsen, 1964 - 9 years before the UK joined)

"[Norway] held a referendum [on the EU] that went the wrong way"(Douglas Hurd, former Foreign Secretary on the Maastricht Treaty)

"Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals we dare not present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and diguised" (Valery Giscard D'Estang. on the Lisbon treaty)

"The Tories have been indulging in their usual double talk. When they go to Brussels they show the greatest enthusiasm for political union. When they speak in the House of Commons they are most anxious to aver that there is no commitment whatever to any political union."(Labour MP Hugh Gaitskell, October 1962)"It means the end of a thousand years of history."(Hugh Gaitskell - 1906-63, on a European federation; speech at Labour Party Conference, 1962)

"The Constitution is the capstone of a European Federal State."(Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister)'If it's a Yes we will say "on we go", and if it's a No we will say "we continue".'(Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Council)

“The substance of the Constitution is preserved. That is a fact.”(German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the Lisbon Treaty)

"I have read some of [the Lisbon Treaty] but not all of it." (Caroline Flint, former Minister for Europe)

"The primary reason why Britain entered into [EEC] negotiations was political, political in its widest sense."(Edward Heath, lecture at Harvard, 1967)

“They must go on voting until they get it right.”(Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission)

"If you go through all the structures and features of this emerging European monster you will notice that it more and more resembles the Soviet Union."(Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky)"The European Union is a state under construction."(Elmar Brok, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs)

“I have never understood why public opinion about European ideas should be taken into account at all,”(French PM Raymond Barre)

“Let’s be clear about this. The rejection of the constitution was a mistake that will have to be corrected.”(Valéry Giscard d’Estaing)

“The 'no' votes were a demand for more Europe, not less.”(Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission)"I don’t want an ‘in or out’ referendum because I don’t think out is in Britain’s interests.”(David Cameron, who won't hold a referendum because he thinks he'll lose)

"In Brussels one says "member state". You may imagine it means the same thing as country or state, but "member state" does not. Note that adjective. Member modifies state. Like "wooden" modifies "leg". The noun stays the same, but the essence of the thing is gone." (Mary Ellen Synon, Bruges Group Annual Conference 2013)

"No government dependent on a democratic vote could possibly agree in advance to the sacrifices which any adequate plan for European Union must involve. The people must be led slowly and unconsciously into the abandonment of their traditional economic defences, not asked…"(Peter Thorneycroft, former Tory MP)

"[Bailouts are] expressly forbidden in the treaties by the famous no-bailout clause. De facto, we have changed the treaty."(French Europe minister Pierre Lelouche)

"The European Union must take a decisive step towards a federal economic government, with common fiscal policies and a larger budget, if it is to save the euro. "(Andrew Duff Lib Dem MEP 2011)

"The transfer by the States from their domestic legal system to the Community legal system of the rights and obligations arising under the Treaty carries with it a permanent limitation of their sovereign rights... against which a subsequent act incompatible with the concept of the Community cannot prevail"(ECJ Case 6/64)

"[The EU Constitution represents] a visible move in only one direction...from intergovernmentalism to supranationalism...and this should be explained to the people of Europe"(Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus)

"The European Parliament is a caucusing body that is incredibly responsive to lobbying institutions, but it is completely unresponsive to public opinion."(Gisela Stuart, Labour MP June 2009)

“Millions of people in this country will feel as I do, that legislation passed in this way, with no consent, cannot command the assent of the country and would lack moral and constitutional validity."(Douglas Jay MP during 2nd reading of European Communities Bill 1972)

"It is an illusion to think that [EU] states can hold on to their autonomy."(Hans Tietmeyer, head of the Bundesbank 1991)"...within ten years 80% of our economic legislation, perhaps even fiscal and social as well’ would come from the EU."(Jacques Delors, President of EU Commission 1988)

"The huge cost of the Common Agricultural Policy to taxpayers and consumers far outweighs any benefit to them..."(Memo by MAFF to House of Lords European Communities Committee 1995)

"...we must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political unity."(Romano Prodi, President of EU Commission 1999)

"The day of the nation state is over."(Roman Herzog, German president, 1996)

"The European system of supranationality comes at the cost of democracy."(Lord Leach of Fairford)

"A European currency will lead to member nations transferring their sovereignty over financial and wage policy as well as monetary affairs."(Hans Tietmeyer, head of the Bundesbank, 1991)

"The single currency is the greatest abandonment of sovereignty since the foundation of the European Community: the decision is of an essentially political nature"(Felipe Gonzalez, a Spanish former PM, 1998)

"The [EU] Council of Ministers will have far more power over the budgets of member states than the federal government in the United States has over the budget of Texas."(Jean-Claude Trichet, current head of the European Central Bank)

"One must never forget that monetary union, which the two of us were the first to propose more than a decade ago, is ultimately a political project. It aims to give a new impulse to the historic movement toward union of the European states"(Giscard d’Estaing, who drafted the EU Constitution 1997)

"The process of monetary union goes hand in hand, must go hand in hand, with political integration and ultimately political union. EMU [economic and monetary union] is, and always was meant to be, a stepping stone on the way to a united Europe"(Wim Duisenberg, first president of the EU Central Bank)

"Once the interlude of [WWI] was over, [countries] all went back to the rules and customs of traditional parliamentary democracies. I felt out of my depth."(Jean Monnet 'Father of Europe')

"We need to build a United States of Europe with the [EU] Commission as government."(Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner 2014)

"We had imagined a political 'grand design', a new international order..."(Jean Monnet 'Father of Europe')

"I like the English style of life. I feel more at home here in London"(Tintin creator, Belgian born Herge)

"We are not forming coalitions between States, but union among people"(Jean Monnet, 'Father of Europe')

"The sovereign nations of the past can no longer solve the problems of the present: they cannot ensure their own progress or control their own future. And the Community itself is only a stage on the way to the organised world of tomorrow."(Jean Monnet, 'Father of Europe')

"That such an unnecessary and irrational project as building a European super-state was ever embarked on will seem in future years to be perhaps the greatest folly of the modern era. And that Britain . . . should ever have become part of it will appear a political error of the first magnitude."(Lady Thatcher, Statecraft)

"There is no question of Britain losing essential national sovereignty”(Ted Heath)

The British Government Knew The Consequences In 1971

...the transfer of major executive responsibilities to the bureaucratic Commission in Brussels will exacerbate popular feeling of alienation from government. To counter this feeling, strengthened local and regional democratic processes within the member states and effective Community regional economic and social policies will be essential.Parliamentary sovereignty will be affected as we have seen. But the need for Parliament to play an increasing (if perhaps more specialised) role may develop. Firstly, although a European Parliament might in the longest term become an effective, directly elected democratic check upon the bureaucracy, this will not be for a long time, and certainly not in the decade to come. In the interval, to minimise the loss of democratic control it will be important that the British Parliamentarians should play an effective role both through the British membership in the European Parliament and through the processes of the British Parliament itself.